The Best State in America Is…?

I’m not sure I can answer that broad question, but I can address the more narrow issue of which state has the most economic freedom. Last month, for instance, I shared some data from the Canada-based Fraser Institute which showed that South Dakota was America’s most laissez-faire state, followed by Tennessee, Delaware, Texas, and Virginia (though all of them trailed the Canadian province of Alberta).

And one year ago, I posted about a fascinating Mercatus study that ranked states based on total freedom (including, interestingly, a “bachelor party” variable). That research put North Dakota at the top, followed by South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire, and Oklahoma.

Now we have another measure of overall economic liberty at the state level. The Texas Public Policy Foundation has put together a “soft tyranny” index that measures total economic oppression, both for the United States and for the 50 states.

As you would suspect, the ranking was constructed with various measures of spending, taxes, and regulation.

Since we’re focusing today on state competitiveness, let’s first look at that data. As you can see, Texas is in the top spot with the lowest burden of government, followed by South Dakota, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Tennessee.

Since South Dakota and Tennessee appear in the top 5 of all measures, I’m guessing that means they are the best states (and it’s presumably no coincidence that they don’t have broad-based income taxes).

Now let’s review the data for the United States.

Probably the most relevant thing to notice is that economic freedom improved during the Reagan and Clinton years, whereas it worsened under Carter, both Bush Administrations, and Obama.